Thursday, May 22, 2008

Vintage Thingies Thursdays:Cameras

It's amazing the things people hold on to. In an earlier post, Collecting vs. Hoarding, I wrote a little about the glories of my dad's basement. It is Vintage Heaven! In some ways this is cool, because people love to see the things I pull out of there. In other ways it is frightening, because there are things that are NOT collectible or valuable, but are just hoarded. For example, the cardboard boxes from every small appliance ever purchased in that home, 1965 to the present. The idea was to have the box to put the appliance back into, I think. But if I was putting it back into the box, wouldn't that mean it was broken and should be tossed or repaired? And where ARE the appliances for all of these still-empty boxes? You see what I mean?!

With Vintage Thingies Thursdays I hope to showcase some of the cool things that have been found in Daddy's basement. Don't worry, no box collections! This week it is cameras. We all know how camera technology changes so quickly, so even if it isn't broken, it gets put away. Why don't they get put away in the same place? Over the course of 5 or 6 years, my dad would bring me boxes from his basement of things he thought I would like. My sister didn't want anything to do with his "junk", so it just started piling up in my basement. I would go through the boxes and get rid of stuff that meant nothing to me, or had been eaten by mice, etc. After about the fifth box, I remembered that in two of the others there had been a camera. My father had always been into cameras and movies. I went back to the old boxes, and sure enough, I had 3 old cameras. This was the start of a collection!I asked my mom to look around the house for any cameras that had been ours as children and got 3 more! My sister, Kathleen, had one really old box-style camera that Daddy had given her as a gift at some point. I asked if it could go in the collection, thinking that they should all be together, making it all more valuable. I didn't care who had the collection, just that it stayed together. I lived in a small apartment, she has a lovely, large home, now it's her collection. People love to look at it, take down the cameras and reminisce about their own memories of taking pictures, and look at the more unusual items, such as the light meter and the big reflective light disc.So, if you've got a hoarder, remember, if you have 3 of anything, it's a collection! And if you dig through their cache, there might be a set of something great!

11 comments:

Elizabeth, that is a very useful tip - I am going to say I am a collector NOT a hoarder whenever there is some complaint about how much STUFF I have got around the house. Because I sure do love retro stuff. Your dad's basement sounds great to me.

I like your blog, too. I know about the Meyers-Briggs all right but have not taken it. Maybe one of these days for a laugh or two!

I enjoyed reading about how you built the camera collection.I must confess that as an incurable collector I have to keep boxes of things which I may wish to resell. Having the original box adds value to the item.[Of course, for years I saved the boxes for everything since I moved every few years and found it a safer way to pack my things.]

Carrie: I know the box makes the item more valuable. But only when you put the item back in it, which he didn't do with most of his things, so we've got boxes, and maybe we've got things, but not necessarily together!

It's so interesting to see how far cameras have come recently. We took close to 1000 digital pictures during our luau yesterday with a camera as big as a deck of cards. Progress is wonderful! :D Looking forward to seeing more from your Dad's basement.

loved your post about old cameras. My mother loved to take pictures, I have her old camera. It was the kind you held straight down and looked into it. If three makes a collection, then I unfortunately hoard (or collect) lots of things.

Elizabeth, in one post you've cleared up the smudge long cast upon me as a hoarder. I have three of everything they all said I have hoarded. I am not a hoarder! I am a collector. Of things like special boxes that I will someday need to put the item back in the box....I loved this post. You just seem to never run out of goodies.

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